Can you imagine how Rip Van Winkle felt after his long nap? I thought about Irving’s protagonist today after visiting Red River with Bob and Craig. In the early ‘60s my dad bought a small grocery-store-ski-rental shop and a jeep … Continue reading →

I’m not going to name names, but one of us snores. Loudly. Not as though I didn’t plan ahead—Pandora on the smart phone and earphones. Tomorrow, I’ll buy bigger earphones. Had some of Santa Fe’s best Mexican fare tonight. Tomasita’s … Continue reading →

The three of us haven’t taken a road trip together in over 50 years—since Craig (then 15) and I (13) traveled to see our brother Bobby (19) at his summer job in Arizona. Bob, who was working as a tour … Continue reading →

Walked by my old house yesterday. The four-bedroom ranch structure that Sternenberg Lumber Company built for Bob Bellah in 1957 hasn’t been occupied by my family since 1968. It’s only a few blocks from where I now live, but I … Continue reading →

I knew it a week before the climb. But I didn’t tell the others until the night before. What I knew is that since we had settled on a smaller mountain, then we could get everyone to the top. Everyone—even … Continue reading →

Rising from the high desert plateau just north of Santa Fe, Atalaya Mountain culminates in a 9,121-foot peak that looks down on both New Mexico’s capitol and the rugged Rio Grande River Valley. The Atalaya Trail, which starts on the … Continue reading →

How do you prepare folks for their first peak climb? Turns out I’m not the person to ask. Seems I’m a better teacher than I am a coach. That’s what I told our Finishers hikers about a week ago when … Continue reading →

Parnell, Texas—it’s a ghost town now—a collection of old concrete foundations, dilapidated lumber, some sheets of corrugated tin that once served as roofs, all barely visible above the tall weeds. It was April of 2006, and my buddy Clark and … Continue reading →

We’re calling it The Wheeler Challenge, an attempt by our Finishers group to climb New Mexico’s highest peak. So at 5:00 a.m. MDT, August 25, when we strap on camelbacks and headlamps at the Taos Ski Valley trailhead, my adrenaline … Continue reading →

Why is Finishers successful? I will do a workshop in a couple of weeks when I’ll be expected to answer that question. My first response is to be cautious. We don’t know yet how well it’s working. The fast growth … Continue reading →